A Disturbance in The Force

Okay, maybe not as dramatic as a disturbance in The Force, but it was a disturbance in my normal routine. Hopefully it will become a regular kind of disturbance.

This morning, as I did my typical scroll through the blogs I frequent, I realized that I missed several posts from yesterday.
Oh yeah! I wasn't on my Chromebook yesterday morning because I went out to breakfast instead of sipping coffee and going through my typical morning routine at home.

This winter's shelter schedule has paired me with a guy that has volunteered in past years. We seemed to hit it off well and he generally signs up to volunteer on  Sunday nights, which is one of my scheduled days to work if shelters are open. This year we started going out to breakfast on Monday mornings after our long overnight shift. For the past two weeks, we have met for breakfast even though the shelters were not open.

I do hope that it is a Monday morning habit that we keep throughout the spring and summer. I'll be leaving for a few weeks this spring, so I will have to make sure to reconnect for breakfast when I get back. We both have Red Access Memberships to the Springfield Cardinals games, but have only run into each other at ballgames a few times in the past few years. Maybe we'll see each other at the ballpark this season.

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An interesting article rolled through my feed yesterday. It was about how men retire without connections outside of their work or careers and often feel lost or lonely in retirement. While it is true that work was the only connection that I had with most of my co-workers and I haven't really kept in touch with anyone in my retirement, I wouldn't say that I ever feel lonely. I have just gotten used to doing things alone and I am okay with that.
Between retiring from work and leaving evangelical christianity (lower case c intentional) I lost most connections outside of family. Very few of those have been replaced along the way and I honestly have not put much effort into developing new friendships along the way. There may come a day that I am a lonely, bitter old man and regret not having made more of an effort to connect with people, but I feel that is unlikely. 
For now, simply having breakfast is as much of a disturbance in The Force as I care to make.

John